Oak  Street 
UNCLASSIFIED 


Volume  V  JANUARY-MARCH,  1919  Number  2 

Published  by  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College 
Issued  Quarterly 


BULLETIN  OF 

RANDOLEtLMACON 
WOMAN'S  COLLEGE 

LYNCHBURG,  VA. 


PASTEUR :  A  STUDY  IN  GREATNESS 
By  PROFESSOR  FERNANDO  WOOD  MARTIN 


IN  MEMORIAM:  { 


MISS  EMMA  KATE  ARMSTRONG 
PROFESSOR  GUSTAV  GEORGE  LAUBSCHER 


Entered  as  second-clas*  matter,  January  5.   1915,  at  the  post-office  at  Lynchburg,  Virginia, 
under  the  Act  of  August  24,  1912. 


BULLETIN 


OF 


RANDOLPH-MACON 
WOMAN'S  COLLEGE 


PASTEUR:  A  STUDY  IN  GREATNESS 

By  professor  FERNANDO  WOOD  MARTIN 


IN  MEMORIAM:  { 


MISS  EMMA  KATE  ARMSTRONG 
PROFESSOR  GUSTAV  GEORGE  LAUBSCHER 


Published  by  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  Colleqb 
lynchburg,  va. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/pasteurstudyingrOOnnart 


Pasteur:   A  Study  in  Greatness* 


Greatness  is  a  matter  of  judgment-  The  degree  of  worth  ac- 
corded anything  whatsoever  is  determined  solely  by  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  content  of  the  individual,  or  the  age,  that  plays 
the  role  of  judge.  We  speak  of  great  architects,  musicians, 
orators,  painters,  poets,  sculptors,  soldiers,  statesmen;  and  cite 
as  examples  such  men  as  Wrenn,  Beethoven,  Demosthenes, 
Raphael,  Homer,  Angelo,  Caesar,  Bismarck.  These  men,  I  say, 
were  great.  Why  do  I  say  so  ?  Well,  the  world  has  pronounced 
them  great.  But  you  ask  me,  ' '  Have  you  no  grounds  for  formu- 
lating an  opinion  of  your  own  ? ' '  Oh,  yes,  I  have  heard  rendered 
the  music  of  many  composers;  seen  the  masterpieces  of  many 
artists,  and  so  on.  And  the  achievements  of  none  appear  to  me 
to  surpass  those  of  the  men  whose  names  I  have  mentioned. 
Perhaps  you  would  name  another  in  each  line  whom  you  hold  to 
be  more  illustrious.  You  ask  me  then — *'Is  there  no  objective 
absolute  standard  by  which  the  achievements  of  men  may  be 
definitely  measured?"    I  answer  '^  None." 

You  stand  before  Michel  Angelo 's  "Moses"  in  the  church  of 
St.  Peter  in  vinculo  at  Rome.  ''This"  (you  say)  ''is  the  finest 
statue  in  the  world ! ' '  Please  enlighten  me  as  to  the  manner  by 
which  you  have  reached  your  decision.  I  grant  at  once  that  the 
judgment  of  the  critics  coincides  with  yours ;  but,  of  course,  you 
are  uninfluenced  by  that  fact.  "Is  it"  (I  ask  you)  "because  the 
statue  is  a  true  representation  of  a  real  person  and  event?" 
You  answer — "No,  oh  no!  But  it  seems  to  me  that  a  man  who 
dared  the  wrath  of  the  most  powerful  potentate  in  the  world; 
who  wrestled  with  desert,  and  famine,  and  pestilence  to  shape 
the  beginnings  of  a  nation;  who  talked  face  to  face  with  God — 
would  have  looked  liked  that ! ' '  Ah,  now  you  have  found  the 
standard  of  greatness;  and  you  perceive  that  it  is  an  ideal  thing. 

This  being  true,  is  it  not  remarkable  that  such  unanimity  of 
agreement  should  have  resulted  from  its  application?  It  ap- 
pears to  predicate  the  existence  of  a  racial  concept  of  greatness. 


*Eeprinted  from  The  Popular  Science  Monthly,  July,  1911. 


4  Bulletin 

Undoubtedly  this  racial  idea  exists.  Philosophers  of  esthetics 
have  troubled  themselves  not  a  little  to  account  for  its  origina- 
tion. While  considering  this  elusory  problem,  the  following 
solution  has  occurred  to  me.    I  offer  it  as  an  hypothesis. 

An  investigation  of  the  specific  works  accomplished  by  men 
ranked  great  reveals  a  curious  fundamental  similarity:  They  all 
relate  to  the  heroic.  That  is  to  say  they  are  either  actual  deeds 
which  relieved  an  individual,  a  community  or  a  nation  from 
danger,  or  they  commemorate  such  deeds  in  a  masterly  way. 
The  favorite  theme  of  poets  has  always  been  "arms,  and  the 
man.''  And  painters  and  sculptors  have  immortalized  men 
whose  acts  furnish  the  implied  answer  to  the  query  of  brave 
Horatius,  the  keeper  of  the  gate : 

How  can  a  man  die  better  than  by  facing  fearful  odds, 
For  the  ashes  of  his  fathers  and  the  altars  of  his  gods? 

By  this  analysis,  the  statesman  is  but  the  warrior  who,  with 
intellect  as  weapon,  defends  his  nation. 

If  we  consider  the  evolution  of  human  society,  it  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  understand  how  this  conception  of  greatness  has  grown 
up  and  established  itself  in  the  subconscious  racial  mind. 

Back  yonder  in  the  gray  and  murky  dawn  of  time,  man  was 
not  that  we  see  him  today.  Then,  indeed,  the  conditions  were 
exactly  reversed;  and  man — puny,  naked,  defenceless — cowered 
in  caves,  or  wandered  miserably  about  seeking  the  sustenance 
which  his  nature  demanded,  but  for  the  winning  of  which  he  was 
more  illy  equipped  than  the  beetle  that  he  crushed  beneath  his 
heel.  Behind  every  rock,  in  every  bunch  of  herbage,  in  every 
stream  and  pool,  in  the  air  he  breathed,  in  the  clouds  that  rolled 
above  his  head,  in  the  ghire  of  tlie  sun,  and  in  the  gloom  of  night 
lurked  death  and  a  thousand  dismal  terrors. 

That  the  human  species  escaped  extermination  at  its  very  be- 
ginning is  a  marvel,  and  due  solely  to  the  one  point  wherein 
man  is  superior  to  other  animals,  namely,  greater  development  of 
the  frontal  brain  wherein  lie  the  centers  of  memory  and  lan- 
guage. In  that  primitive  society  were  some  who  remembered 
what  things  were  good  for  food  and  where  to  be  found;  and  so 
provided  against  death  by  poison  and  famine.  Some  devised 
protection  against  carnivorous  animals  or  enemic^s  of  their  own 


Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College  5 

kind.  These  became  head  men.  And,  on  account  of  their  su- 
perior knowledge  or  prowess,  they  were  esteemed  while  living 
and  revered  when  dead.  The  memory  of  their  deeds  lived  after 
them  in  song  and  story.  And  so  they  were  gradually  trans- 
formed from  men  into  heroes  and,  later,  into  gods. 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  alluding  to  the  influence  of  heredity, 
said  *'We  are  but  stage-coaches  in  which  all  of  our  ancestors 
ride."  By  listening  attentively  we  can  hear  at  any  time 
'* ancestral  voices  prophesying  war."  This  is  why  the  heroic,  in 
act  or  representation,  moves  us  so  profoundly.  And  this  is  my 
explanation  of  our  racial  ideal  of  greatness. 

The  man  whose  life  sketch  I  now  lay  before  you  differed  ap- 
parently from  the  traditional  hero  as  widely  as  the  dove  from  the 
eagle.  He  was  no  sower  of  dragon's  teeth.  Instead  of  sending 
sword  and  fire  on  every  side,  life,  health  and  prosperity  attended 
his  career  as  the  beneficent  effects  of  light  accompany  the  sun. 
And  yet  the  recital  of  his  bloodless  wars  and  peaceful  victories 
touches  the  same  chords  and  thrills  us  with  the  same  emotions  as 
do  the  exploits  of  an  Alexander. 

Louis  Pasteur  was  bom  at  the  village  of  Arbois,  near  Dole, 
in  the  province  of  Jura,  France,  on  the  twenty-seventh  day  of 
December,  1822.  He  died  at  St.  Cloud,  near  Paris,  on  the  twenty- 
eighth  of  September,  1895. 

Like  Napoleon,  Pasteur  was  the  first  ancestor  of  his  stock. 
His  grandfather  w^as  a  serf  who  purchased  his  own  freedom. 
His  father  was  a  tanner  who  rose  to  no  higher  rank  than  sergeant 
in  the  service  of  the  first  consul.  But  he  was  a  man  of  ability 
and  fine  instincts.  Believing  in  the  capability  of  his  child  to 
achieve  something  in  the  world,  he  studied  diligently  in  order  to 
assist  the  lad  with  his  primary  studies,  and  conducted  his  house- 
hold with  an  economy  that  touched  closely  upon  sacrifice  that 
thereby  a  collegiate  education  might  be  made  available  for  his 
son. 

At  fourteen,  Pasteur  was  sent  to  College  of  Besangon.  He  re- 
mained there  but  a  half  year.  Translated  suddenly  to  a  wholly 
strange  environment,  the  shy  country  boy  suffered  so  much  from 
homesickness  that  he  made  little  progress  in  his  studies ;  and  his 
health  became  so  affected  that  his  life  was  actually  endangered. 
His  father  was  compelled  to  bring  him  home.    And  now  for  the 


6  Bulletin 

first  time  the  self  denial  which  had  been  practised  on  his  account 
became  apparent  to  the  youth.  Filled  with  an  agony  of  shame 
that  he  should  have  so  illy  requited  the  love  of  his  family,  he 
resolved  that  he  would  spare  no  resource  of  his  being  in  an  en- 
deavor to  retrieve  the  consequences  of  his  childish  folly.  The 
next  year  he  requested  his  father  to  enter  him  at  the  home 
college  of  Arbois,  a  rural  lycee  little  better  than  a  grammar 
school. 

Here  he  studied  diligently,  but  received  no  instruction  in  the 
subjects  which  appealed  to  his  nature.  The  old  master  assigned 
to  teach  the  sciences  frankly  acknowledged  that  he  knew  nothing 
about  them.  But  he  allowed  the  young  student  access  to  the 
limited  equipment;  and  young  Pasteur  spent  much  time  in 
laboriously  teaching  himself  some  of  the  elementary  principles  of 
physics  and  chemistry.  His  teachers  considered  him  slow.  Draw- 
ing was  the  only  subject  in  which  he  attained  ''honorable 
mention. ' ' 

However,  the  head-master,  Romanet,  appears  to  have  possessed 
more  discernment  than  the  rest  of  the  faculty ;  for  he  frequently 
engaged  young  Pasteur  in  private  talks  in  which  he  endeavored 
to  arouse  in  him  the  ambition  to  prepare  for  teaching  as  a  career. 

At  graduation,  he  was  offered  the  position  of  preparation 
assistant  or  coaching  tutor  to  the  younger  pupils,  a  post  which 
carried  the  munificent  salary  of  300  francs  per  annum  with  board 
and  lodging.  He  accepted  the  position  gladly ;  and,  with  charm- 
ing modesty,  expressed  the  conviction  that  the  salary  was  much 
beyond  his  deserts. 

Small  as  his  salary  was,  still  he  managed  to  save  out  of  it 
something  to  help  educate  his  sisters.  Meanwhile  he  worked  hard 
on  the  studies  ref|nircd  for  his  B.  S.  degree,  a  prerequisite  to  his 
entering  the  Ecole  Norrnale  Supcrieure  at  Paris.  On  this  exami- 
nation he  was  graded  "mediocre"  in  chemistry. 

Pastenr  harl  tlms  f;ir  ix'cri  a  }i;ird  student;  bnt  he  does  not  af)- 
pear  to  have  f)een  ;in  cnthnsijislic  one  till  he  had  been  for  some 
time  at  the  Keolo  Normal  nnder  the;  instruction  of  I>abird,  the 
discoverer  of  })n)mine,  wlio  was  probably  the  only  real  teacher  he 
ever  had. 

But  cvf-n  in  Ihi.s  highest  seliool   for  the  training  of  i)rofesRors 


Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College  7 

afforded  by  the  France  of  that  day,  the  scientific  equipment  was 
so  meager  that  onl}^  a  few  simple  experiments  were  allowed  for 
repetition  by  the  students  of  chemistry.  An  incident  in  this 
connection  will  show  the  stuff  that  Pasteur  was  made  of.  Not 
content  with  being  told  how  phosphorus  is  prepared,  he  bought 
some  bones,  calcined  them,  treated  the  calx  with  sulphuric  acid, 
distilled  the  product  with  charcoal,  and  placed  the  distillate  in  a 
vial  neatly  labelled  phosphorus.  This  was  his  first  scientific  joy. 
His  comrades  dubbed  him  ^ '  the  laboratory  pillar. ' ' 

About  this  time  he  was  shown  a  sample  of  a  strange  new  acid 
of  the  same  composition  as  tartaric  acid,  but  manifesting  strik- 
ingly different  physical  characteristics.  His  curiosity  was  in- 
tensely aroused. 

Tartaric  acid  had  been  discovered  in  the  "tartar"  of  wine 
casks  by  Scheele,  of  Sweden,  in  1770.  Thann,  an  Alsatian  manu- 
facturer of  tartaric  acid,  discovered  some  of  the  anomalous 
variety  in  the  output  of  his  factory  in  1825.  He  was  unable  to 
reproduce  it.  It  was  studied  by  Gay  Lussac  and  Berzelius  in 
1826.  The  latter  proposed  for  it  the  name  of  paratartaric  acid ; 
the  former  suggested  that  it  be  called  racemic  acid.  Mitscherlich, 
of  Berlin,  in  1844,  reported  it  as  isomorphic  with  tartaric  acid; 
and  discovered  that  while  the  latter  rotates  a  beam  of  polarized 
light  to  the  right,  racemic  acid  is  inactive  in  this  respect. 

These  were  the  facts  brought  to  Pasteur's  attention  at  the  time 
when  he  was  shown  a  specimen  of  the  acid.  Although  immensely 
interested  in  the  mystery  presented  by  racemic  acid,  he  put  it 
aside,  resolving  to  take  it  up  when  through  with  the  final  exami- 
nation of  his  course  of  study,  an  ordeal  for  which  he  was  just 
then  preparing. 

His  usual  examination  fortune  attended  him  upon  this  oc- 
casion. His  classmates,  who  were  wise  in  their  generation,  merely 
cramming  for  the  test,  came  through  with  flying  colors  while  his 
name  appeared  near  the  bottom  of  the  list.  And  in  the  state 
examination  which  followed,  his  name  was  put  next  to  the  last. 
Apparently  his  not  being  rejected  was  due  solely  to  the  ex- 
cellence which  he  displayed  in  the  practical  phase  of  the  ex- 
amination wherein  the  candidates  went  through  the  form  of 
actually  teaching  a  class.    The  lessons  in  physics  and  chemistry 


8  Bulletin 

given  by  Pasteur  caused  the  jury  to  declare  "he  will  become 
an  excellent  teacher." 

He  was  appointed  laboratory  assistant  to  Laurent,  the  first  to 
formulate  an  hypothesis  of  the  substitution  of  hydrogen  in 
hydrocarbons.  This  theory  was  elaborated,  and  enunciated  in  its 
final  form,  by  Dumas  in  1834.  At  this  time,  Laurent  was  work- 
ing on  sodium  tungstate.  One  day  he  showed  his  assistant,  under 
the  microscope,  some  crystals  of  this  salt  supposedly  pure  but 
which  manifested  three  distinct  forms  of  crystallization.  Pasteur 
began  at  once  to  learn  how  to  use  the  goniometer.  In  order  to 
master  its  technique,  he  made  elaborate  measurements  on  all 
easily  crystallizable  tartrates,  thus  revealing  the  fact  that  his 
curiosity  concerning  the  two  known  tartaric  acids  had  remained 
lively  throughout  the  preceding  two  years. 

In  the  meantime  he  was  working  toward  the  doctorate,  which 
he  achieved  August  23,  1847,  on  the  strength  of  two  small  papers, 
the  one  entitled  ''Researches  on  the  Saturation  Capacities  of 
Arsenious  Acid:  A  Study  of  the  Arsenites  of  Soda,  Potassa  and 
Ammonia,"  and  the  other  *'A  Study  of  the  Phenomena  Relative 
to  the  Polarization  of  Liquids." 

He  himself  said  of  these  papers,  ''They  are  elementary,  and 
little  more  than  programs  for  future  work."  Again  he  attained 
but  poor  ranking. 

He  now  desired  to  study  in  Germany;  but  poverty  frustrated 
his  plans.  On  March  20,  1848,  he  read  before  the  Academic  des 
Sciences  a  part  of  a  paper  on  dimorphism  which  was  little  more 
than  a  catalogue  of  all  known  substances  crystallizing  in  two 
forms.  Of  itself,  one  might  say  that  it  was  almost  valueless.  But 
to  the  student  of  Pasteur's  life  it  was  a  proof  that  his  work  on 
the  tartrates  was  still  being  f)rosecuted  ;  and  it  aflforded  an  index 
\)()\ni'mfj,  out  the  tenacious  purpose  and  the  resolute  will  of  the 
man. 

After  a  fljish  of  republican  ardor  in  1848,  in  which  he  not  only 
voIuntefTf'fl  s^Tviff  })ut  also  contributed  to  the  cause  all  his 
savings,  150  francs,  he  returned  to  his  crystals,  and  soon  had  the 
fortune  to  discover  herriihedrism  in  the  tartrates,  a  fact  that  had 
escaped  the  Kcrutiny  of  Mitscherlich  and  of  Provostaye. 

So  far  as  his  investigations  showed,  all  crystals  of  tartaric  acid 
had  hernihedral  faees ;  but  h"  had  found  rioni'  on  the  racernates 


Randolph -Macon  Woman's  College  9 

Conceiving  that  this  aspect  of  crystals  might  be  an  index  of  their 
molecular  structure,  he  reasoned  that  the  diverse  optical  behaviors 
of  solutions  of  tartaric  and  racemic  acids  might  be  explained  by  a 
structural  law.  On  fire  with  this  new  idea,  he  carefully  examined 
a  lot  of  tartrate  crystals,  and  found,  as  he  had  anticipated,  that 
each  had  hemi-hedral  facets.  He  turned  now  to  racemate 
crystals,  expecting  to  find  them  destitute  of  hemihedrism.  Im- 
agine his  disappointment,  therefore,  upon  finding  that  here  also 
each  crystal  distinctly  displayed  hemihedrism.  But  upon  lab- 
oriously going  over  his  work  again  he  discovered  a  fact  that  had 
previously  escaped  his  notice,  namely,  that  the  half-formed 
facets  of  tartaric  acid  were  all  turned  toward  the  right  while 
those  of  the  racemates  were  half  right-handed  and  half  left- 
handed.  A  new  idea  flashed  into  his  mind.  Carefully  picking 
apart  the  two  kinds  of  racemate  crystals  he  made  a  solution  of 
each  and,  with  anxious  mind  and  throbbing  heart,  applied  the 
polariscope.  The  solution  of  right-handed  crystals  deflected  the 
beam  to  the  right.  They  were  pure  tartaric  acid.  The  solution 
of  left-handed  crystals  deflected  the  beam  to  the  left.  They  were 
a  new  acid — 1(bvo  tartaric  acid.  He  mixed  his  solutions  in  equal 
proportions.  The  mixture  did  not  affect  the  beam.  It  was 
racemic  acid. 

His  excitement  was  so  great  that  he  could  not  look  through  the 
instrument  again.  Like  Archimedes,  he  exclaimed  "I  have  found 
it,"  and  rushed  into  the  corridor,  where  he  met  an  assistant 
whor.i  he  embraced  in  a  transport  of  joy. 

This  was  one  of  the  most  illuminating  discoveries  known  to  the 
history  of  chemistry  up  to  that  time.  Measured  by  its  ultimate 
results,  it  is  doubtless  the  most  far-reaching  discovery  ever  made. 
Developing  in  one  direction,  it  was  the  germ  of  a  new  science — 
stereo-chemistry ;  in  another  it  transformed  medicine  and  agricul- 
ture from  empirical  practises  into  true  sciences ;  and  incidentally 
it  enriched  the  world  by  a  number  of  other  discoveries  of  un- 
paralleled practical  value.  Done  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  this 
first  great  work  of  Pasteur's  was  a  prophecy  of  that  brilliant 
career  throughout  which  he  continued  to  manifest  the  same 
marvelous  capacity  for  seeing  the  unseeable.  It  led  to  his  ap- 
pointment at  once  as  professor  of  chemistry  in  the  college  of 
Dijon. 


10  Bulletin 

Finding  that  the  duties  of  this  position  consumed  all  his  time 
in  teaching,  he  asked  the  government  for  a  transfer  to  some  place 
which  would  admit  of  his  going  on  with  research.  Quite  unex- 
pectedly to  himself,  he  was  sent  at  the  beginning  of  1849  to  the 
University  of  Strasburg  to  relieve  Bersoz,  professor  of  chemistry 
there,  who  desired  to  go  to  Paris. 

Realizing  fully  the  value  of  the  vein  he  had  discovered  in 
tartaric  acids,  he  directed  his  energies  along  that  line.  He  had 
found  out  what  para-tartaric,  or  racemic,  acid  is;  but  neither  he 
nor  any  one  else  knew  its  origin.  He  now  undertook  the  dis- 
covery of  this.  In  1852  he  visited  all  the  factories  of  tartaric 
acid  in  Germany  and  Austria,  endeavoring  to  trace  the  produc- 
tion of  racemic  acid  to  its  source.  He  ascertained  that  the  manu- 
facturers generally  had  an  idea  that  racemic  acid  wa^  either 
potassium  or  magnesium  sulphate,  and  consequently  rejected  it 
in  the  process  of  refining  tartaric  acid.  This  accounted  for  the 
limited  quantity  which  had  accidentally  found  its  way  to  the 
market.  As  most  of  the  tartars  came  from  the  south  of  Europe, 
and  had  been  subjected  to  a  preliminary  rectification  before  ship- 
ment, it  was  further  evident  that  but  a  moiety  of  racemic  acid 
ever  reached  the  factories.  He  pushed  on  his  enquiries,  visiting 
factories  and  vineyards  until  he  positively  located  it  in  the  crude 
tartar,  where  he  found,  as  he  had  anticipated,  that  it  was  pro- 
duced abundantly  simultaneously  with  tartaric  acid  in  the  fer- 
mentation of  wines.  He  wrote  of  this  quest  "Never  was  treasure 
sought,  never  adored  beauty  pursued,  with  greater  ardor." 

Having  located  the  natural  source  of  racemic  acid,  Pasteur 
next  undertook  to  synthesize  it  from  tartaric  acid.  This  appears 
an  easy  problem  in  light  of  what  every  student  now  knows  of  the 
methods  for  en'ecting  hydration,  for  constitutionally  racemic  acid 
differs  from  tartaric  merely  in  possessing  water  of  crystallization, 
fn  June,  1853,  he  was  able  to  announce  the  completion  of  this 
^'rfat  work,  which  had  been  accomplished  })y  maintaining  ciri- 
chona  tartrate  at  a  high  temperature  with  water  for  several 
hours.  This  synthetic  product  was  also  optically  inactive.  It 
is  known  as  meso-tartaric  acid,  and  is  the  fourth  form  of  the 
series.  This  research  })rought  its  author  the  grand  prize  of  the 
Academic  Krancaise,  and  Uic  ribl)f)n  of  the  l^egion  of  Honor 
from  the  trovernrrient. 


Randolpii-Macon  Woman's  College  11 

Looking  now  at  the  tartaric  acids,  Pasteur's  mind  took  a  wider 
sweep.  He  saw  that  they  were  typical  of  all  living  things,  which 
present  asymmetry  everywhere,  and  that  they  themselves  were 
products  of  a  form  of  life. 

"While  engaged  upon  the  racemates,  he  had  found  that  the 
dextrocrystals  alone  were  altered  by  fermentation,  the  laevo-f orms 
remaining  unchanged  in  the  liquor.  ' '  The  reason  for  this, ' '  said 
he,  "can  only  be  because  this  special  ferment  feedSy  so  to  speak, 
more  easily  on  the  dextro-f orms. " 

He  pondered  this  problem  long  before  he  saw  his  way  clear  to 
its  solution.  At  the  same  time  he  sought  to  unravel  the  indicated 
physiological  significance  of  chemical  affinities. 

In  September,  1854,  Pasteur  was  appointed  professor  of 
chemistry  and  dean  of  the  new  faculty  of  sciences  at  Lille.  Upon 
taking  up  his  duties,  he  was  greatly  hampered  at  first  by  lack  of 
facilities.  The  conditions  which  he  encountered  would  have  dis- 
heartened any  other  man.  The  scientific  equipment  consisted  of 
a  coke-heated  stove  with  which  his  room  was  warmed  and  one 
student's  microscope.  This  institution  had  recently  been  es- 
tablished by  the  municipality  for  the  promotion  of  its  industries, 
which  were  largely  associated  with  alcohol. 

Pasteur  at  once  began  the  study  of  fermentation.  This  was  a 
field  which  lay  enshrouded  in  darkness  with  the  exception  of  one 
tiny  ray  of  light.  In  1836,  Cagniard  de  Latour  had  remarked 
that  yeast,  the  ferment  of  beer,  was  composed  of  cells  which  were 
capable  of  reproduction  by  a  sort  of  budding.  He  expressed  the 
opinion  that  this  microscopic  plant  probably  acted  on  sugar  by 
some  sort  of  •vegetative  effect.  A  similar  observation  was  made 
about  the  same  time  by  Schwann,  of  Germany. 

Pasteur  sat  himself  the  problem  of  solving  the  mystery  of 
fermentation.  His  notes  show  that  he  commenced  by  projecting 
an  hypothesis  associating  fermentation  with  the  dimorphism  he 
had  discovered  in  tartaric  acid,  which  must  have  been  caused  in 
some  way,  he  thought,  by  the  action  of  a  ferment  on  the  grape 
juice. 

Berzelius,  whose  ideas  then  reigned  supreme  in  chemistry,  was 
of  the  opinion  that  fermentation  is  a  catalytic  process.  He  gave 
it  as  his  opinion  that  what  de  Latour  believed  that  he  had  seen 


12  Bulletin 

was  organic  matter  precipitated  by  the  process  of  fermentation, 
presenting  forms  analogous  to  vegetable  life.  Liebig's  explana- 
tion was  equally  mystic.  He  defined  fermentation  as  ' '  action  due 
to  influence."  He  held  the  opinion  that  a  ferment  is  a  mass  of 
organized  matter  set  free  from  yeast  cells  by  their  death  and 
consequent  rupture.  Such  matter  he  supposed  to  consist  of  un- 
stable molecules  which  in  the  act  of  changing  into  new  molecular 
arrangements  liberated  energy  which  in  turn  converted  mole- 
cules of  sugar  into  molecules  of  alcohol. 

Uninfluenced  by  the  metaphysical  speculations  of  these  great 
scientists,  Pasteur  held  to  the  sure  road  of  experimentation.  In 
August,  1857,  he  discovered  the  fermentative  organism  which 
sours  milk  and  produces  lactic  acid.  The  same  year  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Ecole  Normale  Superieure  at  Paris.  The  next  year 
he  discovered  that  glycerine  and  succinic  acid  are  both  pro- 
duced simultaneously  with  ethel  alcohol  when  sugar  is 
fermented. 

That  Pasteur  lost  no  implication  of  any  phase  of  his  researches 
is  shown  by  a  letter  to  his  friend  Chappuis  written  in  January, 
1860.  He  says :  "  I  am  hoping  to  mark  a  decisive  step  very  soon 
in  the  celebrated  question  of  the  spontaneous  generation  of  life. 
Already  I  could  speak;  but  I  shall  require  the  accuracy  of  an 
arithmetical  problem.  I  intend  to  attain  even  that."  In  a  letter 
to  his  father,  of  about  the  same  date,  he  says :  **  These  results  open 
new  vistas  to  physiology.  God  grant  that  by  my  persevering 
labors  I  may  bring  a  little  stone  to  the  frail  and  ill-assured  edifice 
of  our  knowledge  of  those  deep  mysteries,  life  and  death,  where 
all  our  intellects  have  so  lamentably  failed." 

The  bolifif  that  living  creatures  of  both  usual  and  unusual  types 
are  continuously  being  spontaneously  generated  about  us  is  very 
ancient  in  origin.  It  originated  in  the  superficial  observations  and 
non-scientific  explanations  of  our  ancestors,  and  was  perpetuated 
by  the  authority  of  great  loaders,  such  as  Aristoth;  and  Au- 
gustine. Aristole,  whose  ideas  dominated  the  world  for  two 
thousand  years,  states  explicitly  that  living  beings  are  generated 
spontaneously  from  decomposing  carcasses.  St.  Augustine  ful- 
minates against  the  atheism  of  any  who  dare  deny  the  doctrine, 
and  cites  what  he  considers  irrefutable  proofs  of  it.  The  al- 
chemists gave  recipes  for  the  creation  of  various  animals.    Thus, 


Randolph -Macon  Woman's  College  13 

Van  Helmont  gravely  tells  us,  *'You  need  only  close  up  a  dirty 
shirt  with  a  measure  of  wheat  in  order  to  see  mice  engendered 
in  it — the  strange  offspring  of  the  smell  of  the  wheat  and  the 
animal  ferment  attached  to  the  shirt." 

However,  the  more  careful  observation  of  a  later  period  had 
cast  discredit  upon  the  traditional  view.  Thus,  it  had  been 
shown  irrefutably  that  the  stock-proof  of  the  spontaneous  gen- 
erationists — the  appearance  of  maggots  in  decaying  organic  mat- 
ter— was  due  to  the  hatching  of  flies'  eggs.  But  the  invention  of 
the  microscope,  with  its  revelation  of  millions  of  minute  forms 
hitherto  unsuspected,  revived  the  doctrine. 

The  lapse  of  a  year  after  the  letters  cited  above  enabled 
Pasteur  to  announce,  "Of  gases,  fluids,  electricity,  magnetism, 
ozone,  things  known  or  things  occult — there  is  nothing,  in  the  air, 
conditional  to  life  except  the  germs  it  carries.'^ 

This  dictum  was  at  once  fiercely  attacked  by  the  generationists 
who  included  in  their  party  savants  of  European  fame,  the  most 
notable  being  Bastian,  of  London.  The  discussion  held  the  al- 
most breathless  attention  of  the  newspaper-reading  world,  and 
ended  some  years  later  in  Pasteur's  triumphant  demonstration 
of  his  thesis. 

You  can  readily  imagine  that  this  research  was  not  prosecuted 
by  Pasteur  because  of  its  mere  academic  interest.  He  appended 
to  his  first  paper,  quoted  above,  this  query — "What  could  be 
more  desirable  than  to  push  these  studies  far  enough  to  prepare 
the  road  for  a  series  of  researches  into  the  origin  of  various 
diseases  ? ' ' 

In  1861  Pasteur  discovered  the  ferment  of  butyric  acid.  In 
the  following  year  he  discovered  the  ferment  of  acetic  acid,  and 
showed  that  microbes  could  be  distinguished  into  two  grand 
classes —  aerobes  and  anaerobes.  The  Academy  of  Sciences, 
which  had  rejected  his  name  when  offered  for  membership  upon 
several  previous  occasions,  could  not  longer  refuse  to  honor  a 
man  whose  fame  was  now  world-wide.  He  was  elected  a  member 
at  the  end  of  1862. 

The  manufacturers  and  dealers  in  fermented  liquors  had 
always  been  subjected  to  annoyance  and  loss  by  their  inability  to 
make  wines  and  beers  of  uniform  standard  and  to  keep  them  in 
the  condition  in  which  they  were  put  upon  the  market.    Altera- 


14  Bulletin 

tions  were  constantly  taking  place  in  these  articles,  due,  it  was 
supposed,  to  certain  "diseases."  Inasmuch  as  these  wares  rep- 
resented a  large  share  of  the  wealth  of  France,  Pasteur  was 
urged  to  investigate  this  matter.  He  commenced  this  research 
in  1864. 

The  ensuing  year,  an  outbreak  of  cholera  called  his  attention 
to  that  disease,  and  he  studied  it  with  a  view  to  finding  a  bac- 
terial cause  for  it,  but  without  result.  In  the  meantime,  he  was 
investigating  a  pestilence  of  silk  worms  which  was  proving  so 
destructive  as  to  threaten  the  silk  industries  of  southern  Europe 
with  extinction.  He  was  quite  successful  with  this,  and  was 
quickly  able  to  devise  a  method  of  combating  it. 

Doubtless  the  strain  incident  to  the  many  and  great  investiga- 
tions being  simultaneously  pushed  by  him  during  the  three 
years,  1865  to  1868,  was  responsible  for  a  series  of  paralytic 
shocks,  the  first  of  which  struck  him  October  10,  1868.  While 
thought  to  be  hopelessly  ill  and  incapable  of  rational  thinking, 
he  insisted  upon  dictating  a  method  of  dealing  with  flacherie,  a 
second  silkworm  disease  which  had  been  discovered  by  him  in 
the  course  of  his  research  on  the  silkworm  pestilence.  His 
treatment  for  flacherie  proved  to  be  a  complete  success,  also.  He 
recovered  from  this  attack,  but  was  physically  lamed  for  the 
rest  of  his  life.  Although  crippled  in  body,  the  work  ac- 
complished by  him  during  his  remaining  twenty-seven  years  was 
not  only  stupendous  in  amount,  but  of  transcendant  importance 
to  mankind.  I  doubt  if  the  example  afforded  by  the  heroic 
labors  of  the  paralyzed  Pasteur  can  be  matched  from  the  annals 
of  all  time. 

By  the  close  of  1871,  he  had  shown  that  the  ''diseases"  of 
wines  and  beers  were  caused  by  certain  bacteria,  nil  of  which 
might  be  killed  without  injury  lo  the  product  by  heating  it  for 
a  few  miniit("s  at  a  tcTnfX'ratiire  of  r)0''-60°  C. ;  and  that  if  her- 
metically sealed  i\i  this  tern[)eratur(»  the  licpiors  might  be  pre- 
served perfectly  for  an  indefinite  period. 

These  studif's  liad  now  thoroughly  convinced  their  author  that 
all  diseascH  are  of  bactf;rial  origin — a  concef)tion,  you  will  recall, 
which  had  first  come  into  his  mind  by  a  flash  of  genius  ten  years 
before.  Indeed,  four  years  })rior  to  this  (1867),  Pasteur's  re- 
seanthes    had    eonvirieed    a    lirilisli    surgeon,    Jose[)h    Lister,    of 


Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College  15 

Edinburgh,  of  the  microbio  origin  of  those  purulent  infections 
which  accompany  wounds  and  surgical  operations.  And  although 
himself  unacquainted  with  bacteriology,  he  successfully  devised 
the  method  of  asepsis  which  has  made  his  name  a  household  word. 

Before  the  close  of  1873,  Pasteur  finished  the  solution  of  that 
great  problem  begun  at  Lille  nineteen  j^ears  before — the  mystery 
of  fermentation.  It  is  this:  Certain  bacteria,  living  at  the  sur- 
face of  sugary  fluids  cause  no  fermentation,  because  they  secure 
the  oxygen  which  they  need  from  the  air.  They  are  aerobic. 
But  if  sunk,  by  accident  or  otherwise,  beneath  the  surface  they 
must  either  perish  or  adapt  themselves  to  their  new  environ- 
ment by  extracting  oxygen  from  the  nearest  source  of  supply. 
This  is  the  sugar  of  the  solution.  They  are  able  to  accomplish 
this  but  slowly  at  first,  and  the  bulk  of  the  first  submerged  bac- 
teria suffocate.  But  reproducing  rapidly  by  budding,  ensuing 
generations  are  gradually  but,  for  us,  rapidly  converted  into 
true  anaerobes,  which,  robbing  the  sugar  molecules  of  oxygen, 
cause  that  chemical  change  called  fermentation. 

This  problem  solved,  Pasteur  was  able  to  show  from  it  the 
following  results  of  his  work:  (1)  Precisely  what  fermentation 
is,  (2)  that  ferments  are  living  organisms,  (3)  that  every  variety 
of  fermentation  is  caused  by  a  special  ferment,  (4)  that  neither 
bacteria  nor  any  other  life  forms  are  spontaneously  generated, 
(5)  how  to  prepare  culture  media  suitable  to  the  growth  of 
various  bacteria,  (6)  how  to  propagate  pure  cultures  of  bacteria, 
(7)  a  basis  of  classification  of  bacteria,  (8)  the  chemical  and 
microscopical  techni(|ue  of  bacteriology,  (9)  the  cause  and  cure 
of  various  ''diseases"  of  fermented  liquors,  (10)  the  cause  and 
cure  of  various  silkworm  diseases,  (11)  an  explanation  of  the 
mystery  of  the  optical  behavior  of  tartaric  and  racemic  acids, 
(12)  two  new  tartaric  acids,  (13)  how  to  synthesize  meso-tartaric 
and  racemic  acids,  (14)  how  to  make  racemic  acid  available  to 
commerce. 

In  comparison  with  this  great  work  of  Pasteur's,  the  classic 
example  of  persevering  genius — Newton's  fourteen-year  ponder- 
ing over  falling  bodies — sinks  into  insignificance,  no  matter  how 
considered,  either  as  to  time  involved,  the  difficulties  encountered, 
or  the  practical  value  of  results  obtained.  Nor  must  one  fail 
to  note  that  incidentally  Pasteur  had  beaten  out  a  road  into  a  new 


16  Bulletin 

world  and  created  two  new  sciences  which  were  to  serve  as 
vehicles  for  its  exploration  and  exploitation. 

Pasteur's  health  had  been  so  impaired  by  these  arduous  re- 
searches that  he  was  now  compelled  to  give  up  his  professorship. 
As  he  was  entirely  without  private  resources,  his  colleagues 
exerted  themselves  upon  his  behalf,  and  succeeded  in  obtaining 
for  him  from  the  government,  in  1874,  an  annual  pension  of 
12,000  francs,  the  equivalent  of  the  salary  he  had  previously 
received. 

His  friends  now  urged  him  to  abstain  from  work;  but  his 
genius  could  not  endure  inaction.  He  began  the  study  of 
anthrax  and  feruncular  diseases.  While  these  studies  were  in 
progress,  the  bubonic  plague  appeared  in  Russia,  and  the  yellow 
fever  began  to  w^ork  havoc  in  the  French  colonies  on  the  west 
coast  of  Africa  and  in  the  United  States.  Pasteur  prepared  a 
program  of  preliminary  researches  upon  them.  A  paper  to  the 
Academic  des  Sciences  presented  December  30,  1878,  closes  with 
these  words:  ''Is  it  not  permissible  to  believe  that  a  day  will 
come  when  easily  applied  preventative  means  will  arrest  those 
scourges  which  suddenly  desolate  and  terrify  populations?" 

In  1879,  he  isolated  the  microbe  of  feruncles,  and  in  1880 
those  responsible  for  anthrax  and  chicken  cholera.  His  studies 
had  demonstrated  the  fact  that  every  infectious  disease  thus  far 
investigated  was  produced  by  a  specific  microbe;  and,  further, 
that  such  microbes  cultivated  under  certain  detrimental  condi- 
tions become  attenuated  in  pathogenic  activity,  still  capable  of 
producing  a  mild  form  of  disease  in  an  animal  inoculated  with 
them,  but  occasioning  immunity  to  further  attack.  Such  cultures 
of  microbes  of  attenuated  virus  are  vaccines. 

Prophylactic  vaccination  had,  of  course,  been  known  in  an  em- 
pirical way  prior  to  this  in  connection  with  small-pox.  But  these 
researchers  of  Pasteur's  afforded  the  first  explanation  of  that 
procoduro,  and  in  addition  cast  a  flood  of  light  upon  the  etiology 
of  disease.  They  firmly  esta])lished  the  germ  theory,  ushered  in 
a  scientific  practise  of  medicine  and  sent  to  lirnlx)  a  thousand 
pif>ijs  superstitions  aliout  d(;moniacal  possessions  arid  the  myster- 
ious visitations  of  an  all-wise  Providfucc  tliat  doeth  all  things 
wf'll.  Vor  thesf  rfsearchos,  tlie  imperial  government  conferred 
uf)ori  hirri  ihe  cross  anrl  corrlon  of  th(;  Tjr'gion  of  Honor. 


Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College  17 

During  the  years  of  1880,  1881,  1882,  Pasteur  gave  his  at- 
tention to  hog  cholera,  rabies,  pneumonia  in  cattle,  the  bubonic 
plague,  yellow  fever  and  typhoid  fever.  Of  these  six  diseases  he 
was  able  to  carry  to  complete  success  his  researches  on  the  first 
three  only.  In  1881,  a  ship  having  come  into  Bordeaux  from 
Senegal  with  several  cases  of  yellow  fever  on  board,  he  went 
thither,  hoping  for  a  favorable  opportunity  to  study  it  at  first 
hand.  He  was  not  permitted  to  do  so.  But  his  observations  con- 
vinced him  that  this  fever  is  not  contagious. 

Before  the  close  of  1885,  he  had  isolated  the  microbe  of  rabies, 
prepared  its  vaccine  and  perfected  the  method  of  treatment. 
This  was  a  disease  which  caused  not  merely  considerable  prop- 
erty loss  and  suffering,  it  imbued  the  popular  imagination  with 
a  dread  but  little  less  than  the  terror  occasioned  by  a  pestilence. 

As  despite  the  researches  of  hundreds  of  bacteriologists  one 
may  still  hear  it  asserted  that  rabies  is  an  imaginary  disease, 
some  statistics  may  not  here  be  out  of  place.  Accurate  account 
of  320  cases  of  persons  bitten  by  mad  dogs  prior  to  Pasteur's 
work  in  this  field,  showed  a  mortality  of  40  per  cent.  The  first 
350  cases  treated  by  his  method  furnished  but  one  death,  that  of 
a  little  girl  brought  to  the  hospital  in  such  condition  and  so  late 
that  Pasteur  pronounced  the  case  hopeless  from  the  start,  and 
only  undertook  it  for  humanity's  sake.  After  the  treatment  had 
been  given  in  1,726  cases  there  had  been  but  ten  deaths. 

The  conquest  of  rabies  was  the  last  great  work  accomplished 
personally  by  Pasteur.  Reattacked  by  paralysis  in  1888,  he 
could  thenceforth  prosecute  his  ideas  only  by  the  labor  of  other 
hands.  But  he  had  a  host  of  disciples  in  Europe  and  America, 
some  of  whom  had  studied  under  his  personal  guidance,  but 
many  more  who.  without  ha"v^ng  seen  the  great  master,  had 
nevertheless  lighted  their  torches  at  his  flame.  I  knovr  of  no 
surer  index  of  a  man's  greatness  than  the  measure  of  inspiration 
imparted  by  him. 

Already  Gayon  had  proved  the  bacterial  cause  of  the  decay 
of  eggs.  Koch  had  isolated  the  bacilli  of  tuberculosis  and  cholera. 
Traube  had  shoT\Ti  the  like  cause  of  ammoniacal  fermentation; 
and  upon  the  knowledge  thus  given.  Van  Tieghem  and  Gayon 
had  devised  their  well-known  treatment  of  diseases  of  the  urinary 
organs.     Lister  had  introduced  asepsis,  prior  to  which  hospital 


18  Bulletin 

statistics  showed  a  mortality  of  68  percent  of  cases  of  puerperal 
fever,  gangrene  and  septicaemia  generally  incident  to  surgical 
operations.  Accounts  of  surgical  wards  of  army  hospitals  during 
our  own  civil  war,  typical,  of  course,  of  all  that  had  preceded, 
with  their  perpetual  agony,  suppuration  and  horrible  odors,  read 
like  a  nightmare  of  insanity.  A  noted  surgeon-teacher  of  that 
day  said  to  his  students,  "When  an  operation  seems  necessary, 
think  ten  times  about  it;  for  too  often  when  we  decide  upon  an 
operation  we  sign  the  patient's  death  warrant."  Another  said, 
"He  who  shall  conquer  purulent  infection  will  deserve  a  golden 
statue. ' ' 

But  to  resume  our  catalogue:  Behring  and  Kitasato,  investi- 
gating lock-jaw,  had  discovered  the  microbe  of  tetanus,  and  as- 
certained the  curious  fact  that  although  the  patient  was  con- 
stitutionally affected  the  microbe  was  localized  to  the  wound. 
They  further  found  that  the  systemic  effect  of  the  disease  was 
due  to  a  toxin  produced  by  the  bacterium  which  was  likewise 
fatally  affected  by  the  toxin.  So  that  diluted  solutions  of  the 
toxin  not  only  constituted  a  remedy  for  the  disease,  but  also  a 
prophylaxis  when  administered  in  advance  of  infection.  This 
was  the  first  of  the  series  of  remedies  known  as  anti-toxins. 

Utilizing  these  results  in  the  study  of  diphtheria,  the  combined 
labors  of  Richet  and  Herico,  Roux  and  Yersin,  Klebs  and  Loeffler, 
eventuated  in  1894  in  complete  mastery  of  this  disease,  whose  in- 
vestigation had  been  inaugurated  by  Pasteur  a  dozen  years  before. 
Prior  to  the  antitoxin  method  of  treatment,  diphtheria  had  justly 
bcfiu  regarded  jus  one  of  the  worst  scourges  of  our  race,  claiming 
a  death-toll  of  sixty  percent  of  all  cases,  and  frequently  leaving 
the  survivors  seriously  injured  for  the  remainder  of  their  lives. 
At  present,  the  mortality  is  about  four  f)ercent.  And  vaccina- 
tion with  the  s(?runi  rendering  tlie  reci[)ient  immune  to  the  dis- 
ease for  a  f)erio(l  of  a})Out  two  months,  epidemics  of  diphtheria 
may  be  entirely  prevented  by  utilizing  this  prophylactic  measure. 

Closely  connected  with  these  researches  on  tetanus  nnd  diph- 
theria was  a  n'rti;irk;il)le  research  brought  out  about  this  time 
}»y  Metchnikoflf',  one  of  Pftsteur's  Russian  pupils,  in  which  he 
discovered  the  role  of  leucophytes,  or  white  corpuscles  of  the 
blood.  It  apf)earH  that  they  constitute,  so  to  speak,  an  arrny  of 
df'ffnsf,  iiiUicWma  and  "anting  up"  invading'  microbes,  thus  ex- 


Randolph -Macon  Woman's  College  19 

plaining,  by  the  principle  of  anto-vaccination  or  auto-toxination, 
why  an  individual  may  at  certain  times  be  immune  to  contagious 
disease. 

And  here,  permit  a  parenthetical  word  upon  vivisection.  This 
vast  amount  of  research  had  entailed  much  experimentation  with 
living  animals;  and,  as  might  have  been  foreseen,  certain  false 
humanitarians  raised  a  great  outcry  about  it.  In  England  this 
went  so  far  as  lead  to  the  enactment  of  an  antivivisection  law, 
since  repealed,  I  believe,  although  organized  societies  there,  and 
on  the  continent,  and  in  America  still  carry  on  an  agitation. 
However  kind  the  surgeon  or  pathologist  may  be,  he  cannot  avoid 
inflicting  some  pain  in  his  efforts  to  prevent  more.  Nor  can  it 
have  escaped  your  observation  that,  no  less  than  man,  the  lower 
animals  profited  from  these  discoveries  which  could  not  have 
been  made  in  any  other  way.  It  is  also  worthy  of  note  that  no 
antivivisectionist  has  ever  offered  to  .^lacrifice  himself  for  the 
good  of  humanity.  The  colleagues  of  Pasteur  testify  that  he 
always  used  anesthetics  in  his  work  on  animals  and  at  such 
times  evinced  the  most  acute  sympathetic  suffering;  only  the 
end  in  view  gave  him  courage  to  go  on  with  the  experiment.  He 
said  of  himself  that  he  could  never  have  the  heart  to  shoot  a 
bird  for  sport. 

Pasteur's  discoveries  were  epoch-making,  and  revealed  in  him 
the  Copernicus  of  medicine.  Prior  to  his  researches,  the  causes 
and  rational  treatment  of  disease  were  no  better  understood  than 
in  the  stone  age.  Naturally,  his  conclusions  were  not  accepted 
by  medical  men  till  every  possible  opposition  had  been  exhausted. 
Physicians  resented  instruction  from  a  man  devoid  of  medical 
training.  "A  mere  chemist"  was  the  sneer  most  frequently  on 
the  lips  of  his  adversaries.  When  they  could  no  longer  deny  the 
existence  of  microbes,  adherents  to  the  old  school  still  vehemently 
avsserted  that  they  were  merely  an  epiphenomenon.  I  recall  a 
choleric  colleague  of  my  own  in  the  faculty  of  a  medical  college 
where  I  was  teaching  twenty  years  ago,  who  in  the  heat  of  debate 
was  wont  to  call  out  loudly — ''Bring  on  your  microbes.  I'll  eat 
a  pint  of  any  variety ! ' '  Fortunately  for  him  no  one  took  him 
at  his  word.  The  distinguished  Professor  Pettenkofer,  of 
Munich,  having  made  the  same  remark  concerning  Koch's 
bacill'js  of  cholera,   he  was  supplied  with  the  beverage — and 


20  BUT.LETIN 

actually  drank  it.  Heroic  efforts  of  physicians  enabled  him  to 
keep  his  soul  between  his  teeth,  and  after  recovery  he  had  the 
manhood  to  publish  an  admission  of  error. 

In  1880  Huxley  estimated  that  the  practical  results  of  Pas- 
teur's discoveries  had  yielded  France  a  return  in  excess  of  the 
war  indemnity  wrested  from  her  a  decade  before — five  billion 
francs.  It  is  safe  to  assert  that  at  present  they  represent  to  the 
world  not  less  than  that  sum  annually.  And  how  shall  an  esti- 
mate be  made  of  the  relief  of  suffering  and  the  preservation  of 
life? 

In  1894  Pasteur's  former  pupil,  Yersin,  isolated  the  bacillus 
of  the  bubonic  plague,  and  had  the  pleasure  of  exhibting  it  to 
his  old  master.  ''There  is  still  much  to  do!"  said  Pasteur  with 
a  sigh.  His  health  continued  to  fail  steadily  till  September  28, 
1895,  when  a  final  hemorrhage  quenched  forever  the  most  bril- 
liant mind  ever  bestowed  upon  a  member  of  the  human  race. 

Pasteur  died  a  poor  man,  although,  had  he  so  chosen,  he  might 
have  aggrandized  himself  beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice.  But, 
considering  that  his  ideas  were  heaven-sent,  he  bestowed  them 
freely  upon  the  whole  world. 

I  cannot  find  more  suitable  words  with  which  to  close  this 
paper  than  those  addresssed  by  Pasteur  to  the  students  of  the 
University  of  Edinburgh  in  1884  upon  the  occasion  of  his  visit 
there  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  the  degree  of  doctor  of  laws 
from  that  ancient  foundation.  "Young  gentlemen,  work  perse- 
veringly.  Work  can  be  made  into  a  pleasure,  and  alone  is  prof- 
itable to  a  man,  to  his  country,  to  the  world.  Whatever  career 
you  may  embrace,  look  up  to  an  exalted  goal.  Worship  great 
men  and  great  things." 


Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College  21 


In  fl^emortam 


EMMA  KATE  ARMSTRONG 

INSTRUCTOR  IN  FRENCH 
FEBRUARY  llTH.  1918 


RESOLUTIONS  ADOPTED  BY   THE  FACULTY 


Whereas,  it  has  pleased  Almighty  God  to  remove  from  our  midst  our 
fellow  teacher,  Miss  Emma  Kate  Armstrong;  and 

Whereas,  the  Faculty  of  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College  has 
thereby  lost  a  valued  and  beloved  member; 

Be  It  Resolved: 

First,  That  we  hereby  give  expression  to  our  admiration  for  Miss  Arm- 
strong's  life;  for  her  high  ideals  as  a  teacher,  her  constant  devotion, 
patience  and  faithful  work,  in  which  she  counted  all  effort  as  nothing 
when  the  good  of  the  student  was  concerned;  for  her  unfailing  interest  as 
a  friend  and  co-worker  in  the  welfare  of  all  about  her  and  her  generous 
spirit  of  cooperation  in  bearing  all  responsibility;  for  her  Christian  char- 
acter, free  from  selfishness  or  malice,  and  for  the  brave  will  which  enabled 
her  to  perform  with  calm  cheerfulness  whatever  was  prompted  by  her  keen 
sense  of  duty. 

Second,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  transmitted  to  the  bereaved 
family  as  an  evidence  of  our  sympathy  in  their  aflliction,  and 

Third,  That  these  resolutions  be  spread  upon  the  minutes  of  the 
Faculty. 


22  Bulletin 


M  fl^emortam 


GUSTAV  GEORGE  LAUBSCHER,Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR  OF  MODERN  LANGUAGES 
OCTOBER  5TH,  1918 


EESOLUTIONS  ADOPTED  BY   THE  FACULTY 


Wheeeas,  God  in  His  Supreme  Wisdom  has  brought  to  a  close  the  life 
of  our  friend,  Dr.  Gustav  G.  Laubscher; 

Be  It  Kesolved: 

First,  That  in  his  death  our  college  has  suffered  an  irreparable  loss.  A 
man  of  rare  scholarship  and  noble  Christian  character,  he  won  for  himself 
the  respect  and  affection  of  his  colleagues  and  his  students.  A  gifted 
teacher,  he  transmitted  to  those  whose  privilege  it  was  to  study  under  him 
a  regard  for  thoroughness  and  accuracy,  and  by  his  own  tireless  energy 
inspired  in  them  a  sensitiveness  to  duty  and  a  genuine  desire  to  master  the 
subject  at  hand  at  whatever  cost  in  time  and  labor.  In  his  independent 
investigations  as  well  as  in  his  teaching,  he  manifested  a  deep  dislike  of 
superficiality  and  an  absorbing  zeal  for  progress  that  mark  the  highest 
type  of  scholar. 

His  character  has  left  its  imprint  on  the  lives  of  all  with  whom  he 
ftame  in  contact.  Always  modest  and  unpretentious,  he  quietly  went  about 
his  daily  tasks,  little  realizing  how  abiding  the  influence  of  his  personality 
was  destined  to  be.  His  genial  spirit  and  his  warm-hearted  sympathy  drew 
to  him  many  friends  who,  with  deepest  sorrow,  mourn  his  passing  at  the 
very  hour  when  life  seemed  so  full  of  promise  and  of  hope. 

Second,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  spread  upon  the  minutes  of 
the  Faculty  and  published  in  the  college  periodicals,  and  that  a  copy  bo 
Hont  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 


Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College  23 


FEOM  DR.  EDWARD  C.  ARMSTRONG,  SOMETIME  PROFESSOR  OF 

FRENCH  IN  JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY;  PROFESSOR 

OF  FRENCH  IN  PRINCETON  UNIVERSITY 


To  the  Committee : 

It  is  with  keen  regret  that  I  find  it  is  impossible  to  participate  in 
person  in  the  gathering,  on  Monday  next,  in  honor  of  my  fellow  worker. 
From  the  time  that  he  first  came  under  my  observation  as  a  college  graduate 
entering  upon  the  special  studies  which  he  had  chosen  as  his  life  work, 
Professor  Laubscher  won  my  esteem,  my  liking,  and  my  confidence.  Through 
three  years  thereafter  I  had  almost  daily  opportunity  to  observe  his  steady 
growth  and  the  solid  foundation  of  character  and  habit  out  of  which  it 
arose;  and  in  the  subsequent  period  the  judgment  I  then  formed  has  been 
strengthened  as  I  watched  him  develop  into  mature  manhood,  while  at  the 
same  time  the  esteem  for  his  personal  characteristics  has  been  confirmed 
as  he  came  safely  through  the  tests  which  often  bring  out  weaknesses  which 
might  have  passed  unnoticed  during  the  formative  and  more  protected  early 
days. 

As  a  student,  Laubscher  was  in  every  sense  dependable.  He  was 
engaged  in  a  work  to  which  he  was  giving  his  time  because  of  a  deliberate 
choice.  He  was  a  student  of  the  language  and  literature,  the  thought  and 
life  of  the  Romance  peoples  because,  from  the  time  his  attention  was 
directed  to  this  field  by  the  alert,  able  thinker  who  had  guided  his  college 
studies  in  that  domain,  his  inclination  and  his  judgment  led  him  to  select 
it  as  his  own.  He  went  through  periods  of  discouragement,  as  we  all  do, 
but  not  through  periods  of  hesitation.  It  was  a  boon  to  deal  with  a  worker 
of  his  type.  When  the  task  was  set,  he  did  it.  When  it  was  done,  he 
welcomed  criticism.  And  when  a  new  task  followed  on  the  old,  you  could 
be  sure  that  an  error  of  the  first  would  not  reappear  in  the  second.  Thus 
it  came  to  pass  that  while  to  the  casual  observer  he  did  not  in  the  be- 
ginning especially  mark  himself  out  from  among  his  associates,  it  seemed 
at  the  end  quite  natural  to  all  who  had  been  thrown  with  him,  that  he  was 
selected  as  the  picked  man  of  his  group  and  designated  to  the  University 
Fellowship,  which  in  the  Johns  Hopkins  Romance  Department  constituted 
the  highest  honor  in  the  final  year  of  study.  Nor  was  it  a  surprise  that 
the  book  which  formed  his  doctoral  dissertation  proved  a  clear,  compact, 
convincing  treatise,  and  won  favorable,  and  only  favorable,  comments  in 
the  reviews  of  it  which  appeared  on  both  sides  of  the  ocean.  When  in 
later  years  I  published  the  revision  of  a  book  of  my  own,  I  submitted  to 
him  the  manuscript  of  the  section  that  bore  on  the  theme  he  had  studied 
and  am  happy  to  acknowledge  the  substantial  aid  I  received  from  his 
observations.  What  he  worked  at  he  got  new  light  upon,  and  his  acquisitions 
were  fully  at  the  disposition  of  his  fellow  workers. 

When  Laubscher  went  out  from  student  life  to  take  up  the  duties  of 


24  Bulletin 

the  responsible  position  which  was  to  constitute  his  life  post,  I  counseled 
him  not  to  let  his  interest  in  his  own  studies  obscure  a  recognition  of  the 
fact  that  his  primary  duty  lay  in  his  work  of  teaching  and  of  organization, 
but  I  expressed  the  hope  that  the  substantial  burden  which  these  would 
constitute,  might  not  cause  him  to  lose  his  hold  on  the  fields  of  intensive 
study  into  which  he  had  auspiciously  entered.  There  has  never  been  an 
indication  that  this  cautioning  word  was  needed.  In  the  twenty-five  years 
I  have  spent  in  directing  university  men  toward  teaching  and  research,  I 
have  not  had  a  student  whose  career  showed  a  more  judicious  blending  of 
the  two,  nor  a  more  conscientious  interest  in  assigning  to  each  its  proper, 
but  only  its  proper,  share.  He  continued  throughout  his  life  to  extend  and 
enrich  his  equipment,  by  reading,  by  sojourns  in  libraries,  by  travel  and 
residence  abroad,  yet  I  have  never  known  a  time  when  he  failed  to  have 
his  two  life  objects  in  view.  Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  he  was  ever  an  alert 
and  growing  teacher,  setting  his  standards  high  in  what  he  asked  of  liis 
pupils,  but  setting  even  higher  his  standards  of  what  he  should  be  ready  and 
equipped  to  give  them.  Thus  also  it  came  to  pass  that  his  scholarly  pub- 
lications showed  constantly  increasing  grasp.  It  fell  to  me  as  one  of  the 
editors  of  a  journal  in  the  field  of  the  Eomance  Languages  to  pass  judg- 
ment on  successive  articles  he  submitted  for  publication.  After  my  first 
experiences,  I  should  have  felt  safe  in  turning  them  over  to  the  printer 
without  examination:  he  sent  no  manuscript  off  until  he  was  sure  of  what 
he  wanted  to  say  and  of  how  he  wanted  to  say  it.  And  each  year  of  his 
life  was  marked  by  a  will  to  perform  every  phase  of  his  work  more  effi- 
ciently and  in  a  broader  fashion. 

The  years  devoted  in  this  fashion  to  his  profession  could  not  fail  to 
ripen  him  steadily  into  a  man  of  established  standing.  His  colleagues 
and  his  students  can  l)ear  more  weighty  testimony  than  mine  to  the  qualities 
of  ]jis  teaching.  In  the  domain  of  research,  his  recent  studies  had  shaped 
themselves  into  a  book  which  will  serve  as  his  record,  for  while  it  is  still 
unpublished,  the  manuscript  is  complete,  or  certainly  so  nearly  so,  that  it 
will  represent  substantially  the  form  he  wished  to  give  it. 

But  Laubscher,  the  teacher  and  the  scholar,  do  not  eliminate  Laubscher, 
the  man.  Clean  of  life  and  clean  of  thought,  straight  in  his  dealings,  lov- 
ing in  }iis  family  relations,  true  to  his  friends,  he  has  left  the  world  poorer 
for  his  going,  as  he  has  left  it  richer  for  his  having  been  with  us. 

Ilonf'sty,  steadfastness,  balance,  interest  in  the  world  of  action  about 
us  and  interest  in  the  world  of  thought, — these  are  qualities  which  make 
life  real  and  which  count  for  more  in  making  up  its  final  total  than  the 
few  added  or  suljtracted  years  that  cause  our  stay  to  bo  accounted  long  or 
brief.  Professor  Laubsflier 's  span  was  short,  as  numbers  go,  but  long  in 
unwastfd  living, 

EDWARD  0.  ARMSTRONG. 
November  23,  1018. 


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